Filming of the Blue Max over Fermoy

Flying over the Viaduct

Flying under the viaduct?

View of the viaduct from the air

View of the viaduct in 2003

Paudie McGrath's Memories

My own memories and reflections of the filming in Fermoy in October 1965 are,
watching the beautiful sight each day of upwards to nine aircraft flying over the town of Fermoy.
Flying towards the Viaduct which spans the River Blackwater east of the town.

The sight of watching the aircraft swoop from the sky and make their final approach in
preparation for the flight under the Viaduct, then turning right and climbing over the Castle.
Followed by the aerial photography crew in the Helicopter, that was the first time I had ever
seen a Helicopter.

The generosity of the film catering crew who fed me each and every day during the filming of
the scenes. That was also the first time I tasted a hamburger in a bun. I can assure you that
a hungry 14 year old can devour quiet a few hamburgers.
Sitting near the Viaduct on the Banks of the Blackwater last autumn, it was easy to visualise
to days of nearly forty years ago.

The Blue Max is highly unusual amongst Hollywood films. Not just for being a large scale
drama set during the generally overlooked World War 1, but in concentrating on air combat
as seen entirely from the German point of view.

The story focuses on a lower class Officer, Bruno Stachel (George Peppard) and his obsessive
quest to win a Blue Max, a medal awarded for shooting down 20 enemy aircraft, and the most
prized German military aviation medal.

The Blue Max movie has an historical accuracy that is rarely seen, let alone truly noticed,
in a war movie, and there is something about those World War 1 bi-planes and tri-planes that
capture the imagination. The way they move in the air, that makes the metaphor of knights of
the air more potent. The metaphor also matters because of the idea of chivalry that
Stachel rejects throughout the film.

The film contains some of the finest aerial photography and imagery of World War 1 fighting
planes that you're ever likely to see. Whether engaged in dogfights or just swooping amongst
the clouds or down over the green fields of France (actually Ireland), the planes are
photographed with skill and artistry by Aerial Photographer Skeet's Kelly.

One of the film's most spectacular sequences is a reconstruction of a Somme battle.
Director Guillermin chose about 230 acres of County Wicklow at a spot called Kilpedder,
six miles from Ardmore Studios. The Irish Army supplied 1,200 officers and men to take part
in this fantastically real battle. Explosives experts were called in. To obtain the right
effect they used something like seven tons of explosives each day.

The Blue Max was released by "Fox Home Entertainment" The release date for the Film was
21st.June 1966.